Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to techniques including methods and apparatuses for forming layers from a bulk material. Certain embodiments may employ an accelerator process for the manufacture of films in a variety of applications calling for a hard, scratch-resistant surface exhibiting transparency to incident light, including but not limited to camera lens covers, personal electric device display covers, and fingerprint or eye biometric scan optical surfaces. But it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability; it can also be applied to opto-electronic devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and semiconductor lasers, three-dimensional packaging of integrated semiconductor devices, photonic or photovoltaic devices, piezoelectronic devices, flat panel displays, microelectromechanical systems (“MEMS”), nano-technology structures, sensors, actuators, integrated circuits, biological and biomedical devices, and the like. It can also be used as a protective laminate offering protection in harsh chemical and temperature environments.
Certain embodiments may include methods and apparatuses for cleaving films from material in bulk form, such as sapphire, silicon carbide (SiC) or GaN ingots or cores. Conventionally, such films can be manufactured by techniques involving the sawing of bulk material. One example of sawing involves the use of a wire (“wiresaw”).
However, such materials suffer from material losses during conventional saw manufacturing called “kerf loss”, where the sawing process eliminates as much as 40% and even up to 60% of the starting material in singulating the material from a core or boule into an individual layer. This is an inefficient method of preparing films from expensive starting materials. The brittle and hard nature of many of these materials makes the manufacture of large area thin layers particularly challenging.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for forming suitable substrate materials of high quality and low cost are highly desired. Cost-effective and efficient techniques for the manufacture of hard, scratch-resistant films are also desirable.